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Dissomphalus Ashmead, 1893 (Pristocerinae) is the most species-rich genus of Bethylidae currently comprising 424 species worldwide (Azevedo et al. 2018). In the Neotropical region, almost 270 species of Dissomphalus were organized into 32 species -groups defined mostly based on the morphological variation of the tergal process and, in a few cases, on the genitalia (Azevedo 2000, 2001; Alencar and Azevedo 2006, 2008; Redighieri and Azevedo 2006; Colombo and Azevedo 2016; Colombo et al. 2018). Most of the morphological approaches to Dissomphalus species diagnosis use genitalia structure (Mugrabi and Azevedo 2013, 2016; Brito and Azevedo 2017) but a few species are delimited by characters other than genitalia. One of these cases involves two species of the ulceratus species-group, D. concavatus Azevedo, 1999 and D. rectilineus Azevedo, 1999, which are separated by the shape of the hypopygium, but with indistinguishable genitalia (Azevedo 1999; Redighieri and Azevedo 2006). Redighieri and Azevedo (2006) had mentioned that some specimens of D. rectilineus resembled D. concavatus, with the posterior margin of the hypopygium slightly incurved, the paramere with the dorsal margin well developed, and the apex with four small, rounded teeth. Nevertheless, little was done to solve the ambiguity of identification of these specimens. The authors stated the need for additional work in this group to better understand its diversity. The use of integrative analyses, including DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome oxidase I (COI) has been useful to identify cryptic species in Hymenoptera (Griffiths et al. 2001; Hebert et al. 2003; Haine et al. 2006; Smith et al. 2009; Santos et al. 2011; Veijalainen et al. 2011; Gebiola et al. 2012; Williams et al. 2012). Thus, we used COI sequences and hypopygium structure to evaluate the species limits of D. rectilineus and D. concavatus from the Atlantic rainforest, and to understand if those variations hold any utility for identification of these species in the group.

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